Clinton Administration Sticks To Census Sampling
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Although a federal district court last month ruled unanimously that use
of sampling procedures -- as opposed to a direct enumeration of citizens
-- in the 2000 census would be unconstitutional, the Clinton administration
intends to proceed with sampling. That decision is being met with indignation
from many quarters.
Critics contend that Clinton administration officials are, in effect, saying
that the court is wrong, the majority of Congress is wrong and the Constitution
is wrong. The Supreme Court could rule on the constitutionality of sampling
as early as next month.
It is generally agreed that the 1990 census undercounted the population
by about four million persons -- missing a larger portion of minorities
than whites. But there are ways other than sampling to avoid the same error
in 2000.
- Great Britain and Canada use administrative data -- such as medical
records -- to fill gaps in their census counts.
- As of 1996, Medicaid had the names and addresses of more than 18 million
people age 20 and under who might be at risk of being missed -- primarily
children in low-income urban homes.
- During the last census, more than 1 million people were located through
parole and probation files -- but the Census Bureau failed to take advantage
of Justice Department files on more than 3 million people, many of whom
went uncounted.
In 1990, the Secretary of Commerce refused to employ sampling on the
grounds the data would be unreliable. The Supreme Court agreed with this
reasoning in a 1996 opinion.
Source: J. Kenneth Blackwell (Ohio State Treasurer), "Clinton's Census
Chicanery," Investor's Business Daily, September 16, 1998.
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